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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Beware: Worm attack in progress
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>1m computers infected by self-replicating virus every day, experts say </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Chua Hian Hou
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->COMPUTER security experts are warning Singaporeans to watch out for a sneaky, self-replicating computer virus that is infecting one million new machines every day.
Called Conficker, the worm has burrowed its way into nine million computers running on Microsoft Windows since last week, in the biggest malicious software outbreak in years.
While there are no definitive figures for the number of computers here victimised, security firm Trend Micro has received reports of local infections. Experts say many other computers may have the virus but their owners do not realise it because Conficker is hard to detect.
A report by Spanish information security company Panda Security, released on Wednesday, estimates that 6 per cent of computers globally have been infected by Conficker.
Unlike other worms which may delete files or disable the computer, thus alerting the user to its presence, Conficker lies dormant while trying to find more victims.
Conficker is a worm or a piece of malicious software that can make copies of itself. It sends these copies over the Internet or across an office network to another computer; it can even hitch a ride on storage devices like MP3 players.
Reportedly created by a China-based hacker, Conficker has infected computers running everywhere from the United States to South Korea to France. Its victims include the United Kingdom's Defence Ministry and British hospitals.
Its apparent tameness compared to more destructive programs is worrying, said Mr Eric Chong, Trend Micro's regional marketing director.
While the worm could be genuinely impotent, the worry is that it is an electronic time bomb waiting for the right moment to go off.
Conficker has been programmed to contact a number of other computers over the Internet regularly for instructions.
So far, no instructions have come through. But there are worries that the worm's cyber-mastermind could order an infected computer to bombard its user with advertisements or force the computer to send out electronic junk mail to others on the sly.
There are concerns that the mastermind could order his nine-million-member-and-growing electronic army to overload major websites, like that of a bank.
For instructions on how to identify and kill the worm, visit: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/962007. [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>1m computers infected by self-replicating virus every day, experts say </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Chua Hian Hou
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->COMPUTER security experts are warning Singaporeans to watch out for a sneaky, self-replicating computer virus that is infecting one million new machines every day.
Called Conficker, the worm has burrowed its way into nine million computers running on Microsoft Windows since last week, in the biggest malicious software outbreak in years.
While there are no definitive figures for the number of computers here victimised, security firm Trend Micro has received reports of local infections. Experts say many other computers may have the virus but their owners do not realise it because Conficker is hard to detect.
A report by Spanish information security company Panda Security, released on Wednesday, estimates that 6 per cent of computers globally have been infected by Conficker.
Unlike other worms which may delete files or disable the computer, thus alerting the user to its presence, Conficker lies dormant while trying to find more victims.
Conficker is a worm or a piece of malicious software that can make copies of itself. It sends these copies over the Internet or across an office network to another computer; it can even hitch a ride on storage devices like MP3 players.
Reportedly created by a China-based hacker, Conficker has infected computers running everywhere from the United States to South Korea to France. Its victims include the United Kingdom's Defence Ministry and British hospitals.
Its apparent tameness compared to more destructive programs is worrying, said Mr Eric Chong, Trend Micro's regional marketing director.
While the worm could be genuinely impotent, the worry is that it is an electronic time bomb waiting for the right moment to go off.
Conficker has been programmed to contact a number of other computers over the Internet regularly for instructions.
So far, no instructions have come through. But there are worries that the worm's cyber-mastermind could order an infected computer to bombard its user with advertisements or force the computer to send out electronic junk mail to others on the sly.
There are concerns that the mastermind could order his nine-million-member-and-growing electronic army to overload major websites, like that of a bank.
For instructions on how to identify and kill the worm, visit: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/962007. [email protected]
